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Posts Tagged ‘halloween tips’

From the Desk of Dr. Harold Katz:

Halloween is here! This is one of my favorite holidays. It’s the start of a lot of family fun that turns into a whirlwind of activity. Next thing you know, it’s mid-january…As your on-line dentist, I wanted to give you a couple of health tips to keep in mind as you run headlong into this busy season.

Pack a toothbrush

You tend to have a lot more snacking opportunities during the holidays than normal. You’ll go to dinners, get-togethers, happy hours where you will lightly snack to be polite. But all that snacking creates more frequent feedings for germs that live in your mouth. If you eat more often, you should brush more often. Otherwise you give food time to nourish bacteria and biofilm. Stick a toothbrush in your bag or purse. When you have a minute or two throughout the day, give your teeth a quick once over. As a bonus, it’s extremely refreshing.

Give someone you love a toothbrush

Do you need a good gift suggestion? Sonic automatic toothbrushes are light years ahead of traditional mechanical brushes that were sold even as recently as 5 years ago. They clean faster and better – in clinical trials, some have been shown to clean FIVE TIMES more effectively than traditional brushing. Plus, they are less prone to causing damage from brushing too hard. If you really want someone’s beautiful smile to last, give them a sonic toothbrush (we sell an excellent quality WaterPik professional sonic toothbrush on our web site, but there are many other excellent products on the market as well)

Replace your toothbrush!

I won’t try to gross you out with just what kind of things live on your toothbrush. Let’s just say that as a bacteriologist, I have seen them up close and that used to keep me up at night. Regardless if you use an automatic or regular brush, the brush bristles need to be replaced often. If you don’t remember the last time you replaced your toothbrush, it’s probably a good bet you should replace it now. Automatic brushes have replacement heads you can purchase and replace. If you have never changed the head on your automatic brush, do it today.

And here’s a parting Halloween tip:

What is the most important thing to do right after eating Halloween Candy? Unless you want to invest money in your dentist’s office, the most important thing to do is to thoroughly brush and floss. Don’t put it off until bedtime.

After eating a handful of Kandy Korn there is enough residual sugar on your teeth and inside your cheeks to feed an army of bacteria. Get rid of it before it can do rapid, lasting damage to teeth. Sugary snacks are particularly hard on areas below the gum line, so flossing is also encouraged.

It is reaching that moment of the year where children’s consumption of sugar is likely to increase highly. The average American eats 25 pounds of candy annually, with a high percentage of it being eating on Halloween.

When one is consuming chocolate, hard candy, taffy, and other sweets, it is difficult to maintain good oral health. Dr. Harold Katz, the “Bad Breath Doctor” disperses tips on how to avoid rotting one’s teeth from celebrating Halloween. Instead of having the scariest breath, why not have the scariest costume instead?

According to Dr. Katz, “Halloween is where candy makers go to town on your kids’ teeth. It’s not like their intention is to rot your children`s teeth, but it may as well be with all the problems that habitual and even binge-based candy consumption can cause.”

With that said, here are some good tips to avoid those unwanted cavities:

Once your child brings home their Halloween candy, take control of it and dole it out to them over time

If you are comfortable doing so, deny your kids the most offensive of the candies they bring home to avoid cavities (all-day suckers, jolly ranchers, jaw breakers, large lollipops, taffy, roll-ups, gummy sweets)

Make sure your child brushes and flosses after consuming these goodies, and before bed without exception

Try sugarless gum or candy as an alternative, since it reduces the amount of bacteria in the mouth

If you are the one giving out candy to kids, try to offer fun alternatives to candy like party favors, stickers, noisemakers, comic books, and so on.

Since adults have their fun during Halloween too, they should try to avoid alcohol (since alcohol causes dry mouth, leading to bacterial bad breath, which is the worst kind of halitosis)

Keep in mind that breath mints are really sugary candies, because they just taste sweet and do not necessarily mask bad breath (taste and smell are not the same senses!).

Also, pay attention to what toothpaste/mouthwash your kids are using. It should not contain alcohol or Sodium Lauryl Sulfate.